First road club ride 2008

Last night I was on my first roadie club ride of the season. Once again, due to construction work, the route has been changed this year. And, once again, Kaharinvuori just east of Rusko proved too much for me at the speed the chain gang was going. It's not a big hill, not even by local standards. Still it's steep enough for me to drop well behind the others this time of year.

Cruising down hill again on the far side I noticed one of the other riders had waited for me. On the flat he helped me keep a pace that would let ut catch up with the gang again. Before we could do that, though, we were overtaken by two cars which in turn couldn't pass the rest of pack. More traffic in Moisio caused the gap to inrease even further. I was in no shape to go any faster, so my companion asked if I was ok with him joining the gang now well ahead of us.

I was down, but not out. I decided that I wasn't dressed in lycra for nothing, and continued along the route alone. Actually I wasn't 100% sure I was going the right way, having lost line of sight to the chain gang. But then, while still on Paattistentie, near Auvaismäki, I saw them again heading south on Auvaismäentie. I knew the area from before, having passed through on a solo ride a couple of years ago. I really should explore these parts of Turku some more, it's great cycling country.

All in all I ended up doing two laps of the Moisio - Auvaismäki - Maaria circuit at my own pace before heading home again. Not too shabby, as this was only my second outing on the roadie this year.

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club ride: 62,36 km, 2h26m4s, 25,62 kmh avg, 45,6 kmh max

Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery

Check out Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery, a bicycle web comic. It's hilarious and details the everyday adventures of avid commuter / bike shop worker Yehuda and his co-workers.

Yesterday I was out on my second ever mtb club ride. MTB-Turku (Finnish) holds weekly rides for beginners like me and last night I felt more like trying out the forest instead of the road. I've actually only been on one roadie ride so far this year, but I've ridden my mtb around town all winter. My first off road club ride was back in september last year..

Meeting up at Prisma Itäharju, nine riders set out towards Littoinen by way Pääskyvuori, Varissuo (Kalttasuo), Järvelä and Tehtaanmäki. The return trip had us riding through Paaskunta, Rientola and Lauste. Near the starting point, as Pave led the remainder of the group up Laukkavuori, I announced I'd had enough and headed home.

It's been fairly dry for a few days, but there were still quite a few muddy spots here and there. The terrain surrounding Turku is perhaps more suited for enduro and trail riding, not xc cruising which would perhaps be more my cup of tea. Most of the other riders were out on full suspension bikes, I can only remember seeing one other hard tail.

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• ~2 hours of riding, short breaks
  
• 2 over-the-bars expriences
• loads of fun